Thursday, September 15, 2016

Cloud passport in the works for ASEAN nations

Malaysian startup BorderPass is set to launch
a pilot test at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) which allows
travellers to pre-clear the immigration checkpoint before arriving at the
destination.

The closed trial will take place once
BorderPass finishes installation of automatic clearance gates at KLIA Terminals
1 and 2 by the end of this year. Public trials are then planned to follow.

Explaining how it works, BorderPass CEO
Faisal Ariff said: “We replace paper immigration forms with a biometrically
verified online profile, which is sent to the destination government the moment
a flight is booked.

“Pre-cleared passengers use a BorderPass
automated gate on arrival, skipping the manual immigration queue and forms. It
is essentially a precursor to the cloud passport. It is where we feel the world
is headed to in the next 10 to 20 years.”

BorderPass is being targeted at intra-ASEAN
travellers for now, according to Faisal, who is speaking with various
stakeholders within the 10 nation bloc to implement the pioneering solution.

“There are four key stakeholders who we have
worked hard to convince: governments, airlines, airports and passengers,” he
said.

“Each have a different perspective and we
tailor our message to them accordingly. For governments the top three
priorities are security, security and security. For airlines, it may be
boosting passenger throughput and managing capacity.”

BorderPass had been in talks with the
Malaysian Immigration Department since early 2014, as well as with the ASEAN
Secretariats in Jakarta and three other ASEAN countries, among many others, to
bring the project to its current state. The trail at KLIA is a first for
South-east Asia.

Australia and New Zealand, in an initiative
led by the two nation’s governments, were the world’s first to test run cloud
passport technology back in October 2015.

While going paperless is an exciting prospect
for end-consumers, Faisal highlights the positive effects it has for South-east
Asian immigration authorities as well.

He said: “The key difference we are
introducing is the ability to pre-screen passengers before they arrive, using a
secure biometrically-verified profile which carries over from journey to
journey across the region.

“This enables the destination government to
screen visa-free visitors days, weeks or months ahead of time, as opposed to
traditional last-minute manual screening. For passengers this translates to a
simple, seamless, and secure journey.”

BorderPass is also currently working closely
with travel technology stalwarts Amadeus via its startup programme Amadeus Next
to look at integrating its systems with airlines and airports that are being
powered by Amadeus solutions.

“We had the unique opportunity to head to
Amadeus’ customer event, Online Connect, where we were able to pitch our idea
and network with Asia-Pacific’s leading OTAs. It was great exposure to the
industry and for us it validated our solution with the online community,” said
Faisal.

“We
were also pretty excited to be awarded Amadeus Next Startup of the Year at the
event, helping us to establish international credibility, and probably it
helped us in Malaysia also.”